Winded
by Eternal Voice18
Summary: For so long, Myra depended on nobody but herself. It wasn't until she'd stumbled upon a rather interesting group of misfits, who reminded her of the carefree life she'd once been blessed with, that she began to change her perspective. This is the story of a girl who dared to dream in the cruel face of reality, with the help of some friends she'd made along the way.
1. Prologue

**I'm extremely excited about this fanfiction. I've never wrote an ongoing fic with an OC on my own before, so this is a thrilling new experience. This is just a prologue, the actual chapters will be longer normally. I already have so many things planned for this fanfiction, I can't wait to see it grow, and I hope you all enjoy reading it and witnessing my character, and the story grow together with me!  
><strong>**~ Read On ~**

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><p>"Fire at full force, men! Don't hold back!"<p>

"YES SIR!"

The ship bustled with activity, every sailor's pair of feet pounding against the deck as they ran about, scrambling for their weapons and filling all canon's with bombs as fast as they could. We were currently in the middle of a planned attack against a notorious group of pirates who'd been causing quite a stir lately. Our marine base has been tracking them for quite some time, and had finally caught them out on the sea, nothing short of half an hour ago.

If I recall, they were called the strawhat pirates.

Truthfully, it was only the captain the navy had their eyes on. 'Stawhat' Luffy has quickly risen through the ranks, taking out stronger pirates one by one. For a young pirate to conduct so much destruction in such a short time, he's proven to be quite a dangerous threat.

The whole squad had their hands full, and like any other day, I should have been as well. But things have taken an unexpected turn for the worse. I had more pressing matters to deal with at the moment than playing 'hero' with the others.

"You snake," the commander hissed in my face, choking me in his grip as I struggled to break free. "Thought you could fool us, huh? How long did you think you could keep this sherade up, traitor?!"

"_You're_ the snake! Let me go, bastard!" I choked out in anger as I clawed at his arms. I couldn't help but mentally kick myself. _Shit! I was so close... and I blew it! _

Why couldn't I have been more careful?

"Don't think I haven't figured you out already! You work for him, don't you?! For _Vice Admiral Wes._" I shot pure daggers into the commander's eyes as I said this. I didn't care if it dug my grave deeper, I was long tired of surrounding myself with these filthy apes anyways.

His grip squeezed even tighter, making me wince. "If anyone will be asking questions here, it'll be me, you lying bitch!"

I gasped as I felt him lift me over the edge of the naval and hover me above the waves. He knew I couldn't swim; they really are going to kill me. _This is it, _I thought.

"This is the end of the line for you. Now rot in hell!"

And without a second to spare, he let go and I felt the harsh drop as I fell toward the sea waves; which were splashing recklessly due to the battle still going on between the ships. I squeezed my eyes shut and grit my teeth in frustration. _No! _

It can't end this way. I didn't come all this way, endure all of this torture, all for nothing. I refuse to let my efforts go to waste. But even so, there it was. The vast grand line, ready to swallow me up as I plummet closer and closer toward it. There was nothing more I could do. I bit my lip so hard I almost drew blood, and let go an ear piercing scream; just as I crashed into the water.

And I sunk. Deeper and deeper I went, until it got to a point where my lungs started to burn. After some time, my consciousness began to fall hazy. _I'm dying, this is what it feels like to die. _

And then soon enough, everything went black.

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><p>"What's going on out here? Who's the girl?"<p>

"We saw her get thrown off the ship."

_Are those... voices? But, I thought..._

"But she's a marine! She could have been pretending, why would you go after her?"

"Just shut up and help me, dammit! She's practically clogged with water!"

_...I'm supposed to be dead._

"She was thrown by one of her own men, Zoro. We saw it. And she looked like she was seriously drowning, I really don't think that-"

"Hey, wait! Luffy, you guys, come over here! She's waking up!"

_Luffy?_

Immediately, I coughed up a generous amount of water. I could feel someone's hand underneath my head, keeping it leveled as the liquid escaped my lungs. I inhaled sharply, and let the oxygen flow through me; my body feeling relief as I could breathe again.

I opened my eyes at last, and my vision eventually focused on various heads looming over me. "Y-You... where am I?" I croaked out, my throat still raw from coughing up all the water. Everyone eyed me with curiosity, caution, and concern all at once.

"You're on a pirate ship. The one your fleet was just attacking."

A heavy weight like lead dropped in my chest. Oh, _hell_ no. "You're.. pirates..?"

I think I'm in deep trouble.

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><p><strong>Some basic detailsfacts about my OC:**

**Name: Myra  
>Age: 18<br>Appearance: Blue eyes, Dark red/maroon mid-length hair with messy cut side bangs, olive toned skin  
>Height: 5'4"<strong>

**That's all you get to know... for now ;) fave/follow/review if you like! **

**- Natalie **


	2. Double Agent

"This doesn't make any sense. So you're a marine-"

"_Former _marine." I corrected the man with radically colored green hair.

"And you say your commanding officer suddenly decided to throw you overboard? Right in the middle of an ambush at sea? Why would he have any reason to do that to one of his own soldiers?"

"I didn't say it like it was something out of my own imagination. You saw it happen, didn't you? Some of you did, at least." I gestured to the others surrounding me after ringing out my hair one last time. "And anyway, look over there."

I pointed toward the direction of the sea, where the fleet of marine ships were just barely visible over the horizon line. "They're long gone. It's obvious they aren't coming back for me, I'm not one of them anymore. How much more proof would you need?" I smirked playfully. "I'm not exactly biting your face off right now, am I?"

The swordsman grumbled to himself.

"By the way, since I'm sharing so much, why don't you guys tell me exactly who you Straw Hat's are?"

The captain stepped in, sporting a wide smile. "My name's Monkey D. Luffy, the guy who's gonna be king of the pirates."

Up until now, I'd only known this man by his nickname 'Straw hat Luffy.' But after hearing his full name in it's entirety, my heart couldn't help but skip a beat or two.

_D, huh? I wonder..._

Ignoring my thoughts for the moment, I pressed on with the conversation. "King of the pirates, huh? That's quite the confidence you have there."

"You bet!" he chirped happily. I couldn't help but find his enthusiasm contagious. At least the captain believed me.

"I'm Nami, the navigator of this ship." A girl who looked to be around the same age as me stepped in. "The grumpy one over there is Zoro," she jerked her thumb in the direction of the man I was teasing earlier, who shot her a warning glance.

"You better watch it."

Nami only stuck her tongue out at him childishly.

"The name is Usopp," a darker skinned man wearing goggles and a beige bandanna posed in front of the group heroically. "The great captain Usopp, the leader of this crew-!"

"Yeah right." Zoro came up behind him and whacked him on the head. Luffy erupted in laughter, and I couldn't help but snicker a little myself.

"Ow! What the hell was that for, Zoro?!"

The other girl stepped up and caught my attention. She appeared very gentle and kind. Her skin was pale as snow and her hair as blue as the sky above. She had it tied up in a long, gracious pony tail that ended at her waist. All in all, she was a gorgeous woman. "My name is Vivi. I'm not actually a member of this crew, I'm just travelling with them until... uh, Well, it's a long story actually." she laughed a little. "But these are my friends."

I nodded, smiling politely. "Nice to meet you, Vivi."

Suddenly, a blonde man stepped through and made his way toward me. He held a classy heir about him, tall, well-kept, dressed in a black suit and tie. He had just a touch of stubble accenting his chin and a slight smell of and cigarettes that gave off an edgier feel to him as well. He got up close and personal with me right away, boldly taking my hand in his and keeping perfect eye contact with me.

"I am the prince who swept you off your feet and saved you from the depths of that fierce ocean. You can call me Sanji, my love. But what may I have the privilege of addressing such a stunning, angelic beauty like yourself?"

Admittedly, I was taken by surprise for a moment. He sure didn't act like your stereotypical pirate. Although it was obvious to me that this guy was nothing more than a shameless ladies man. I was sure he spoke this way to every girl he saw. Even so, I humored him. "You can call me Myra, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Ah, such an exotic name!" he swooned to himself. "She truly is one of a kind!"

"Thank you." I acknowledged his kindness while pulling myself to my feet. "Listen everyone, I really appreciate you guys coming to save me. You really helped me out of a tight spot. You pirates must not be so bad if you willingly decided to dive in after a total stranger."

Zoro crossed his arms stubbornly. "Well, it was Sanji's idea, but..."

"It's no problem." Luffy grinned innocently.

I stared off into the sea, my smile growing placid. "I hope it wont be too much if I could ask you to do me one more tiny little favor?"

"Well, it depends what it is." Nami replied.

"All I ask is if you could lend me a small boat you might have on hand. It doesn't have to be in the best shape, as long as it can get me around."

"Wait, you're leaving so soon?" Sanji whined.

"I _am_ technically intruding your ship, after all. I wouldn't think it'd be very nice to stick around here uninvited. Besides, I'm sure you all have your own things you need to do and I myself have to get back on the move as soon as I can."

The navigator frowned. "I hate to burst your bubble, but we don't have any smaller boats stored in our ship to lend you. And even if we did, there's no way a tiny boat could get you very far out on this crazy sea."

After a while, I sighed in frustration. "Yeah, I guess you're right." my voice fell to a whisper while I pondered out loud. "What else should I do...?"

"Do you mind me asking where you plan to go next, Myra?" Vivi's voice asked behind me, a sympathetic tone ringing through her words.

I thought hard about it, until I realized that even though they were vile in my eyes, the marines were my best shot at getting to what I've been looking for. I knew there must be some other way, but for now I was all out of ideas. For now, I was right back at square one. My hands gripped the side of the ship a little tighter.

"You aren't going back to the marines?"

I turned back around, almost laughing. "Pfft, what for? They already kicked me out, there's no way they'd let me back in now. And hey, the more that I think about it, maybe its better this way. I couldn't stand being around those guys."

Everyone stared at me in confusion.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Usopp questioned.

"Oh, right, I guess I never told you." I chuckled nervously. "See, I was never actually a marine, per say. I joined the marines undercover, in hopes of finding out information and the whereabouts of someone I'm looking for, that's all."

"Ohh! So you're like a spy?" The captains eyes shined with excitement.

"You could say I am, yes."

"That's so cool!" Luffy exclaimed.

"I've been living the rogue lifestyle for quite some time at this point. I've gotten real good at sleuthing around and staying out of sight. At least, I was doing pretty good until they found me out and tried to kill me."

"So you're a sleuth sniffing around for information on somebody, huh? Who is it you're looking for exactly?" Zoro asked me, still skeptical.

I pressed my eyes hard on the swordsman. "Myself, and nobody else. I guess it's normal for you all to be suspicious. But I assure you, I'm no marine. I never was, I was merely playing the part of one for the last few years. And I have no interest in turning any criminals into the law. So you can rest easy, alright?"

Straw hat stalked up beside me. "So you have nowhere to go, then?"

"For now, yeah. I guess I don't." I shrugged simply.

"Hey captain," Sanji stepped in the conversation after taking a long drag of his cigarette. "Maybe we should have her stick with us until we find land."

Immediately I raised my hands in protest. "Wait a minute! I really don't want to weigh you all down with my problems. Are you sure that's okay?"

"Of course it is!" Sanji sang sweetly my way. "Our captain wouldn't have a problem with that, would you Luffy?"

The captain grinned from ear to ear. "Nah, its fine. You can stay with us as long as you want. The more the merrier!"

_For a pirate captain, he's pretty laid back, isn't he..? _I thought to myself in amazement.

Nami shrugged. "Well, there's no land or ships in sight. What more can we do?"

"I agree, she might as well stay." Vivi nodded to the group before approaching me with a blanket she suddenly held in her hands. "All of that aside, you must be cold. Why don't you wrap this around you and I'll show you where the bathroom is so you can wash up?"

I still didn't feel right about making myself at home with these group of pirates. Although, once I realized in the matter of seconds that the ships captain was dragging me by my arms across the deck excitedly like a puppy having it's first walk, I figured I didn't have much of a choice.

I smiled pityingly. "Alright, I guess I'll have to stay for now."

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><p>After I'd had a warm bath, cleaned up and changed into the t-shirt and shorts Vivi let me borrow, I finally let myself outside to explore the deck. Just as I opened the door and stepped out, I caught a generous whiff of something delicious, and my stomach growled obnoxiously. In all the craziness of what happened so far today, I didn't even realize how hungry I was.<p>

"Myra darling~!" Sanji called to me from the deck above. "Lunch is all ready for you!"

I wordlessley showed my gratitude and made my way into the kitchen lounge. Everyone else was already inside well into gobbling down their meals. The captain was stuffing his face, Usopp was yelling at him for trying to steal his food away, while the other three minded their own business and tried to ignore the noisy confrontation near them. Eagerly I sat down and began digging into my own plate.

My taste buds sang in delight the second the pepper steak hit my mouth. "Oh, wow." I continued eating more, almost stuffing it in my mouth at this point from how starving I was and how amazing it tasted. "I've never had food this good before in my life!"

"Sanji is the best cook in the whole East Blue. You'll never find anyone else who makes food as good as he does!" Usopp told me as he was still slapping Luffy's hands away from his plate.

"East Blue? Is that where you all are from?"

"Most of us, yes." Vivi spoke up. "Although I'm from a country located here on the Grand Line."

"Really?" I already finished off the last bite on my plate.

"Actually, I need to go back home as soon as I can. It's the whole reason why I'm here on this ship."

"I see... where are you from, then?"

She hesitated. "Are you familiar with the country of sand, Alabasta?"

"Alabasta?" I thought for a minute. "Now that you mention it, the name does sort of ring a bell. I've heard it float around through a few gossiping soldiers mouths from time to time."

"Here's the twist; Vivi is actually the princess of that country." Nami chirped. "The princess of Alabasta, Nefertari Vivi."

My eyes nearly bugged out of my skull. "Y-You're the princess?"

She nodded.

"Wow! Who knew you were a part of the royal Nefertari bloodline. What in the world are you doing on a pirate ship, then?"

"It's a little complicated. You see, similar to your situation, I infiltrated a bounty hunter organization by the name of Baroque Works in hopes of finding out information. My country is in a lot of trouble right now, you see. We're on the brink of a war about to break out, and it's all because of one man."

My eyebrow cocked in curiousity, signalling her to continue the story. Her eyes suddenly filled with hate.

"Crocodile. One of the seven warlords of the sea."

Once again, my eyes opened big. "Crocodile? The man with an eighty-one million bounty on his head? So that's where he's been hiding..."

Vivi nodded. "He's chosen my country as a target for his own plans for quite some time. A couple years ago when I suspected something fishy was going on, that's when I decided to go in undercover with my royal guard Igaram to try to figure out what exactly he was plotting. Not too long ago, I ran into Luffy and the rest of this crew over in Whiskey Peak. One thing led to another and next thing I knew, Baroque Works found me out. I managed to escape their attack thanks to this crew taking me under their protection, but Igaram..." the girl's eyes narrowed in grief for a moment, before she shook it off.

"Anyway, that's why I'm on this ship."

"...Wow. You've really been through quite a lot. I'm sorry."

"It's alright." She smiled toward me and shook her head, the rest of the crew locked their gazes among the princess. "I have faith that with these kind and strong people by my side, that I just might be able to save my country."

"What do ya mean, _might? _I'm gonna clobber that Croc guy!" Luffy exclaimed with a flash of determination surging through him.

"Yeah, yeah. But don't forget this is mainly about stopping the rebellion. You got that Luffy?" Nami pointed toward the straw hat boy sternly.

"And we'll all be around to back you up." Zoro flashed a smirk.

"But before we can even go to Alabasta, we need to stop at Little Garden first."

I cocked my head. "Little Garden?"

Nami nodded to me and pointed at her log pose. "That's the next island we need to get to, we can't go to Alabasta without going here and letting the log pose adjust first."

"What's the island like? Is there a town I could stay at?"

Vivi sighed. "Unfortunately no. From what we heard from Miss All-Sunday, it's a big jungle full of nothing but monsters."

My heart sank a little. "Monsters, you say?" _Oh, lovely._

Luffy waved his hands around with enthusiasm. "Yeah, it sounds awesome! I can't wait! But enough of that for now, bring on more food!"

"You've had over six plates already! Other people need to eat too!" Sanji shouted, kicking his captain on the head.

Watching the scene unfold before me, I couldn't help but giggle. These pirates sure were interesting.

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><p>Later that night in the women's quarters, I found myself restless. Unable to sleep easy, I eventually gave up and crawled out of bed quietly so as to not wake Nami and Vivi. I padded around in my bare feet exploring the bedroom. It was a cute little space, with some book shelves, potted plants and random paintings dressing the walls for decoration. There was even a little lounging sofa. Something square and wooden in the corner of my eye caught my attention, and I found myself drawn toward a small desk near the bed I was supposed to be sleeping soundly on. I sat myself down and let my hands gently look through the drawers. I was pleased to find a nice feather pen and some ink staring me in the face, and pulled them out. Looking in another drawer further underneath, I was lucky enough to find a small pad of paper. Once I set everything up, I got myself comfortable and started doing the one thing I do best.<p>

I began to write a story.

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><p><strong>So, if you haven't figured it out already, this story begins at the point where the Straw Hat's are just about to reach Little Garden. I decided that was where Myra would come into the plot :L I hope you enjoyed! FaveFollow/Review**

**- Natalie**


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